The primary objective of this paper is to account for Lotman`s interpretation of Pushkin`s death from within Lotman`s theoretical system, that is, to construct an ‘inner logic’ of his ‘strong’ argument. It attempts to prove the fact that his interest in a peculiar model of act, or what can be called “the Performative” appeared in Lotman quite early on, and that he examined it from a variety of perspectives across entire process of theoretical evolution. The hypothesis of this paper is that Lotman`s argument on Pushkin`s death is a ‘compressed’ expression of long standing exploration, and, therefore, must be reassessed in theoretical as well as biographical dimension.
